Learn how to make this adorable Hedgehog birthday cake with easy actionable steps!
I’ll show you exactly how to make this Hedgehog birthday cake at home. Hedgehog cakes have taken over our Instagram, and Pinterest feeds and has become another cute animal cake!
This Hedgehog birthday cake recipe is made with a foolproof vanilla cake recipe, which is a semi-homemade cake that any baker with any skill level can make. But you can easily use any of your favorite cake flavors.
I wanted to share this cake tutorial with you because this month I’ll be celebrating two years of XO, Katie Rosario being in business! It has been a wild ride, and there’s no better way to celebrate than with cake, especially this super cool hedgehog cake!
I’ll teach you basic cake decorating techniques that will help you become a better decorator. It’ll also help you feel more comfortable knowing that you can pull off a cute cake like this Hedgehog cake.
You’ll be introduced to craving cakes and creating different shapes out of cake. I’m so excited to teach you how to use a grass piping tip and turn it into fur for the Hedgehog. The fur buttercream is made up of three different colors, ivory, chocolate brown and white. All three colors are placed in the same piping bag, so the fur colors become mixed and have a much more organic look to it!
You’ll also learn how to work with fondant for the first time, (or if you have a little bit more experience) and how to make fondant numbers, birthday hats, and eyes without cracking. These fondant tips and tricks can be easily used on any cake creation you want to make in the future!
Whether you are throwing a kids birthday party or want to create an adorable Hedgehog cake for fun, this tutorial is for you!
Tips for success:
- Read through all the ingredients and instructions so you can get a better idea of how much time and what you need to make this cake.
- I highly recommend making the cake taller so when it’s carved down your Hedgehog is taller and in proportion.
- If you are in a rush or you would like to break up the decorating then make the fondant decorations the day before, so the fondant has plenty of time to dry.
- You can bake the cake layers ahead of time. Wrap the cake layers in plastic wrap and freeze up to one month.
- You can make the buttercream a day ahead and refrigerate it overnight. Then take them out to come back to room temperature. Make sure the buttercream is at room temperature before re-whipping.
- A single batch of this cake recipe makes three, 6-inch round cake layers or two 8-inch round cake layers. Double the cake recipe to make enough cake batter for three, 8-inch cake layers.
- Food coloring gets darker over time, so it’s best to gradually add the food coloring, which is best for lighter colors.
- Serve cake at room temperature.
What Tools You’ll Need to Make This Cake:
- 3, 6-inch cake pans or 2, 8-inch cake pans
- Offset spatula
- 8-inch or 10-inch white cake board
- Serrated knife or cake leveler
- Turntable
- Cake scraper or bench scraper
- Piping bag (I use silicone reusable bags)
- #804 Round piping tip
- Grass piping tip
- Whisk or sifter
- Rubber Spatula
- Non-Stick Cooking Spray and Parchment Paper
- Ice Cream Scooper with Trigger Release (for dividing cake batter evenly)
- Cake Stand, optional
- Ivory gel food coloring
- Chocolate Brown gel food coloring
- Small fondant rolling pin
- Silicone fondant mat
- Fondant (Black, white, pink, green, blue and purple)
- Circle cutters small sizes (round piping tips also work)
- Toothpicks
- Cornstarch and Vegetable Shortening
So here’s how to make your own adorable Hedgehog Birthday Cake!
Let’s Start Decorating!
Preparing the Buttercream and Piping Bags
- Place 1 cup of the white buttercream into a piping bag with an Ateco #804 round tip.
- In two small bowls, add ⅔ cup of buttercream to each bowl. Then color one bowl of buttercream with ivory gel food color and the other bowl with brown gel food color.
- Next place some ivory buttercream into a piping bag with a small round tip and save for later.
- Prepare a piping bag with a coupler and a grass piping tip, place the prepared piping bag into a cup to support it. Add some white buttercream to line ⅓ of the bag, then add the ivory buttercream to another third of the bag and finally add the brown buttercream to the last third of the bag so this way all 3 colors will be used to pipe at one time.
Putting It Together
- Layer one vanilla cake, cut side up onto cake board. Add a 2/3 cup of vanilla buttercream over the cake. Place another cake layer cut side down over top. Repeat process for another layer. Crumb coat and freeze for 30 minutes.
- With a small serrated knife begin to crave the chilled crumb coated cake into a dome shape. Shave any sharp corners to make smooth then crumb coat the dome shaped cake with a thin layer of buttercream all over the whole cake. Then freeze for 20 minutes to set the buttercream.
- With the piping bag filled with white buttercream, pipe a heart shape as the face of the Hedgehog at the top section of the cake then pipe a belly of the Hedgehog. Then pipe a mound of buttercream to create the nose.
- Smooth the buttercream with an offset spatula. To make perfectly smooth add a drop of water to the spatula and use that to smooth the buttercream. Don’t make the buttercream to set or the fondant decorations won’t stick to it. Wipe any buttercream off the spatula before wetting it again and wiping the buttercream smooth. Place the cake back into the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Begin to pipe the fur of the Hedgehog with the tri-color buttercream piping bag. Use slight pressure to pipe fur all over the cake minus the face and belly of the Hedgehog. Set the cake aside.
How to Make Fondant Decorations
- On a silicone mat, start with purple fondant to make the number 2, roll the fondant into a rope and curl the edges to roll into itself. Set the number aside to dry.
- Next, make the party hat, start with a cone shape with light blue fondant, then add a small round ball of blue on top of the hat and add a thin rope of blue to the bottom of the cone. Roll the green fondant thin to cut out small dots. Use a small paintbrush and a little water to attach the green dots. Set aside to dry.
- Roll the black fondant out to cut out small circles for the eyes. Then roll a small amount of black fondant to make a nose for the Hedgehog. Next, roll out pink fondant to make pink cheeks. Add small dots to make the white of the eyes for the Hedgehog. Set aside.
It’s All in the Details
- Place the eyes and cheeks on to the face. Then use a toothpick to attach the nose.
- Place the number 2 onto the belly, use a small amount of buttercream to attach the number.
- Insert a toothpick into the party hat and insert it into the top of the Hedgehog.
- Pipe ears, toes and arms holding the number with the ivory buttercream. Serve at room temperature and Enjoy!
You May Also Enjoy:
- Llama Cake Tutorial That’s Fun & Festive (tutorial)
- Mermaid Buttercream Cake (tutorial)
- Common Baking Mistakes & How to Avoid Them (free ebook)
- How to Decorate Your First Cake (free course)
- Cake Decorating for Beginners (online course)
- Cake Decorating Tool Kit (24-piece kit with free shipping)
Now you know how to make another adorable Hedgehog cake! Take these simple buttercream techniques you have learned here and make other animal birthday cakes. I can’t wait to see your cake creations!
Happy Decorating!
Hey, if you liked this tutorial, you really should check out, Cake Decorating Creator Program, my online cake program. I coach you on everything I teach on these cake tutorials so that you can uplevel your baking and decorating skills. We 10x it so you get the results you want most. Like any new skill, it’s important to learn from the ground up to build a foundation, so you can take on any cake challenge. It is an investment your future self will thank you for. Check it out at XOKatieRosario.com/online-cake-course. I will see you there!
Watch The How-to Video Below:
Hedgehog Birthday Cake
Learn how to make this adorable Hedgehog birthday cake with easy actionable steps! I'll show you exactly how to make this Hedgehog birthday cake at home.
Servings: 1 (3 Layer) 6-inch or (2 Layer) 8-inch round cake
Ingredients
Foolproof Vanilla Cake
- 1/2 cup (or 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 whole eggs
- 1 box Vanilla Cake Mix (prefer to use Duncan Hines)
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole milk
Vanilla Buttercream
- 3 cups (or 6 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 3 Tablespoons heavy cream
Decorations
- Ivory gel food color
- Chocolate brown gel food color
- Fondant (black, pink, white, blue, green and purple)
- 2 Toothpicks
Instructions
Foolproof Vanilla Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 °F. Spray three 6-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray, line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper and spray again. Set aside.
- In a medium-size bowl, whisk and stir together the cake mix, all-purpose flour, and salt. Set aside.
- In the stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, oil, and sugar on medium-high for 5 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time to the stand mixer bowl and beat on medium until well incorporated.
- Turn the mixer on low and add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture until fully incorporated.
- Add the vanilla and milk, beat on low until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Finish by adding the remaining flour mixture and mix on medium for another 30 seconds.
- Evenly distribute the cake batter among the three cake pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
- Remove cakes from oven and let cool in pans for 10 minutes before inverting onto cooling racks to cool completely. Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and place into the freezer to chill for 30 minutes.
Vanilla Buttercream
- In the stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Turn the mixer to low, gradually add powdered sugar, followed by the cream. Then add vanilla extract and salt. Mix until incorporated completely. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
- Turn the mixer to medium-high and beat the buttercream for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Turn the mixer on low and mix for 2 minutes to push out any air bubbles.
- Place 1 cup of the white buttercream into a piping bag with an Ateco #804 round tip.
- In two small bowls, add ⅔ cup of buttercream to each bowl. Then color one bowl of buttercream with ivory gel food color and the other bowl with brown gel food color.
- Next place some ivory buttercream into a piping bag with a small round tip and save for later.
- Prepare a piping bag with a coupler and a grass piping tip, place the prepared piping bag into a cup to support it. Add some white buttercream to line ⅓ of the bag, then add the ivory buttercream to another third of the bag and finally add the brown buttercream to the last third of the bag so this way all three colors will be used to pipe at one time.
Assemble
- Layer one vanilla cake, cut side up onto cake board. Add a 2/3 cup of vanilla buttercream over the cake. Place another cake layer cut side down over the top. Repeat process for another layer. Crumb coat and freeze for 30 minutes.
- With a small serrated knife begin to crave the chilled crumb-coated cake into a dome shape. Shave any sharp corners to make smooth then crumb coat the dome-shaped cake with a thin layer of buttercream all over the whole cake. Then freeze for 20 minutes to set the buttercream.
- With the piping bag filled with white buttercream, pipe a heart shape as the face of the Hedgehog at the top section of the cake then pipe a belly of the Hedgehog. Then pipe a mound of buttercream to create the nose.
- Smooth the buttercream with an offset spatula. To make perfectly smooth, add a drop of water to the spatula and use that to smooth the buttercream. Don't make the buttercream to set or the fondant decorations won't stick to it. Wipe any buttercream off the spatula before wetting it again and wiping the buttercream smooth. Place the cake back into the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Begin to pipe the fur of the Hedgehog with the tri-color buttercream piping bag. Use slight pressure to pipe fur all over the cake minus the face and belly of the Hedgehog. Set the cake aside.
- On a silicone mat, start with purple fondant to make the number 2, roll the fondant into a rope and curl the edges to roll into itself. Set the number aside to dry.
- Next, make the party hat, start with a cone shape with light blue fondant, then add a small round ball of blue on top of the hat and add a thin rope of blue to the bottom of the cone. Roll the green fondant thin to cut out small dots. Use a small paintbrush and a little water to attach the green dots. Set aside to dry.
- Roll the black fondant out to cut out small circles for the eyes. Then roll a small amount of black fondant to make a nose for the Hedgehog. Next, roll out pink fondant to make pink cheeks. Add small dots to make the white of the eyes for the Hedgehog. Set aside.
- Place the eyes and cheeks on to the face. Then use a toothpick to attach the nose. Place the number 2 onto the belly, use a small amount of buttercream to attach the number. Insert a toothpick into the party hat and insert it into the top of the Hedgehog.
- Pipe two ears, six toes and two arms holding on to the number with the ivory buttercream. Serve at room temperature and Enjoy!
Notes
- Be careful not to overmix this cake batter or else the cake will come out dense.
- Food coloring gets darker over time, so it's best to add the food coloring gradually.
- A single batch of this cake recipe makes three, 6-inch round cake layers or two 8-inch round cake layers. Double the cake recipe to make enough cake batter for three, 8-inch cake layers.
- I highly recommend making the cake taller so when it's carved down your Hedgehog is taller and in proportion.
- Serve cake at room temperature.
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